Deception
by Ameko Tayashi
Summary: Kagome forgets about Inuyasha, and starts a family with Hojo, only to eventually remember her past, and return to Feudal Japan.
1. The Woman Who Overcame Time Once More

"For the longest time, I thought about him every day. Yet, gradually this turned into every other day, then every five days. I thought about him every week. And then every month. This gradually became once a year. And then it happened. Finally, I forgot all together. That was, at least before I found the photograph. The photograph which brought it all trickling back into my mind in a sudden forest brook. That was the day my life took a strange twist for the second time."  
  
"Yuki! Aya!"  
The two kids ran down the stairs. Aya, the older, was about five years old, and Yuki was only three. They both stood in front of her.  
"Ready, Mom!" said Yuki.  
Kagome smiled down at her young boy. "Come on, then. Off to the doctors."  
It was six-thirty in the morning and Kagome wanted to get her kids in and out of the doctor's office as fast as possible, so she wouldn't have to be too late for work. She held each of their hands and walked towards the car. Her husband, Hojo, swept down the stairs with a smile. He grabbed his briefcase off the kitchen table, and then swooped by Kagome to give her a kiss. Finally, he dashed out the door, running to his car, a piece of toast in mouth.  
Kagome gazed lovingly back at him, and then pulled the children with her to her own car. She was feeling a bit tired, but otherwise well. At the age of twenty-five, she had two healthy children. She buckled the two of them safely in the back seat of the car and drove off toward the doctor's. The two bickered a bit on the way over, but no real arguments ensued.  
She finally pulled into the parking lot of the doctor's office, and then brought her kids with her inside the building. She walked to the front counter and signed her name, and then she sat herself in the waiting room, and shooed her kids toward the toys. She picked up a parenting magazine and began reading.  
"Higurashi. Aya? Yuki?" said a woman who walked out from the examining rooms. Kagome stood, placing the magazine on the table, glad to put it down, and walked to her children. She held their hands and brought them into the office, sitting one on a stool, and another on the bed. She herself sat down on a chair.  
"Mama, are we gonna get any shots?" asked Yuki, looking a bit afraid.  
"Yeah! The biggest ones they've got!" said Aya with a smirk. "You'd better be careful! If you squirm, they could miss, and hit something important!"  
"Aya!" Kagome exclaimed, causing the girl to close her mouth, and look away, ashamed. Kagome shook her head with a little smile.  
The rest of the doctor appointment went rather well, and she led her children back to the car. She then drove Aya to her kindergarten and Yuki to his preschool. She finally arrived home, ready to grab her own items and get out of there. She decided that, since she was there, she might as well brush her hair again, knowing it probably didn't look very neat. She, she went to her room and began brushing her hair at the dresser. Her cat then hopped onto the dresser.  
The cat knocked over her lotion bottle, and sent a necklace behind the dresser. She swore, knowing she was going to wear that necklace today. She shooed away the cat, then pulled the dresser a ways forward. She looked behind it, and saw the necklace. She reached for it, and pulled, but it got stuck on a screw. Annoyed, she kneeled over and pulled the necklace from the screw, only to notice the loose floorboard. She hadn't noticed it before.  
She reached for the board, and pried it up with her hand. Under the floorboard rested an old picture frame. She pulled it out and placed it on the dresser, then pushed the dresser back, all before she had a good look at it. Then, she picked it up. She looked at the photograph inside.  
It was an interesting photograph. There she was, in her old sailor fuku. She looked around sixteen in the picture. She didn't remember much of that year, because, she assumed, she had several illnesses, and it made her memory hazy. There she was, smiling. And all the way on the right was a woman of around twenty with long black hair. The woman dressed in an old fashioned kimono, and she had a giant boomerang saddled across her back. She looked at the camera startled. Then, between her and the woman, a bit closer to the camera than the woman, was an interesting man. He had fiery amber colored eyes, and long, messy, white hair. He brandished a giant glowing sword, and he looked either startled, or rather disturbed by the camera. Upon his head sat a pair of white, dog ears. He wore a red kimono with pants, and no shoes. On his head was a small child, a toddler, with a fox tail. On the side of the camera was a single blob of flesh color, which she presumed was the finger of whoever took the picture.  
Suddenly, the frame fell from her hands, crashing to the ground, as her cat collided with her feet. She knelt down to collect the shards of glass. She was picking them up, when she noticed that there was one shard which almost seemed to glow. It had a pink hue to it, and it was about the size of half of a large marble. She picked it up, admiring it. What was it?  
Slowly, almost instinctively, she stood and walked outside, to the back, where the shrine was. She walked over to the old well. She didn't even remember it was there, sometimes. She had never been in the building. She opened the door and walked inside. The room was a bit cramped, and musty. She walked over to the well, and looked down into it. She turned around, looking toward the doorway.  
"This is crazy," she suddenly said aloud. "Why do I have this excessive urge to jump into the old well?"  
She turned around, looking down into it again, and then finally decided to follow her urges, for lack of the ability to resist the subconscious messages. She turned around and climbed down the ladder, the pink gem in hand.  
She fell upon the bottom. She was so sure she would hit solid ground that she was startled to feel herself suspended in the air. She looked about her, meeting a series of swirling celestial beings, a massive vacuum. Her stomach churned from the swirling feeling of it. Finally, she felt herself hit solid ground.  
She looked around, seeing she was in the well, then looked up to see the sky. That wasn't right, though, because the well was indoors. She slowly climbed out of the well, noticing the ladder was missing. She finally reached the top and looked around her. All around her was a forest. Her eyes opened wide.  
For lack of anything better to say, she whispered beneath her breath, "Todo, I don't thin we're in Kansas anymore." 


	2. Memories Removed and Returned

Kagome looked around, wondering where she was. She remembered the area, somehow, but there was a void in her heart which contained such memories. She dragged herself out of the dry well, and looked around some more. Where am I? she thought.  
Suddenly, she noticed a blur of smoke in the sky. She wondered what it was, and began to walk in the direction. Something was drawing her there. Finally, after traveling through the forest for a while, she found what appeared to be a small village. At least, that is what it appeared to have been at one time. The area was in ruins. There were a few stray huts leftover, but the majority was burnt wreckage.  
Kagome wandered through the rubble, looking around. Here and there, she noticed traces of blood, and they made her shudder. Something horrible had happened to this village. She didn't know what to think or do, so she just began to walk towards one of the remaining huts, wondering if there could be someone left alive.  
She went to the front of the hut. She wasn't sure how she should go about knocking. The door itself wasn't very solid, considering that it was a bamboo screen. There wasn't a doorbell in sight. She decided to tap on the side. She lightly raised her knuckles and tapped the thin side of the hut. At first, she didn't hear a sound, so she knocked again. Finally, loud rustling noises and a few bangs emerged from the cottage.  
A man of about twenty nine years answered the door. He was tall and handsome, and his black hair was short, not past his neck. He wore a purple cloth around his waist. His brown eyes observed my figure, and he grinned. "Why, do come in, ma'am!" he remarked, ushering me towards a table and some tatami mats. I sat down with a blush.  
A woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties stepped out of the other room, a sheet wrapped around her. "Miroku!" she exclaimed. "Inviting a guest into the house at a time such as this! You could've allowed me to get dressed!" She winked to him, and then turned to Kagome.  
"I'm really sorry about this," she said. "He's sometimes a bit-" She stopped with a quick gasp. She looked Kagome over wide-eyed, then slowly stepped towards her, Miroku observing her with wonder. She smiled to her, and finally broke the awkward silence.  
"K-Kagome-san!" she stuttered.  
Kagome looked at her, wondering how she had known her name. "Hai, that's my name..." she said slowly and hesitantly.  
"Kagome-sama?" said Miroku, who looked back and forth at Kagome and Sango. "You're... you are Kagome-sama!" He then leaned over and gave Kagome a swift hug, embracing her tight. "And not a moment too soon!"  
Kagome drew back. "I-I'm sorry..." she stated. "I can't say I really remember who you are. If I did once, I'm... I'm sorry I don't now."  
They both stared at Kagome, startled. Kagome herself had a strange feeling of happiness in her heart, but she didn't know why. "Well, I'm sure if I did remember you, I'd surely be happy to see you again." She said with a weak smile.  
Sango and Miroku appeared to be a bit cheerier, after hearing her comment. Sango smiled, and spoke. "Even if you don't remember us, you're still the same Kagome-san I know," she said with a grin. Miroku joined in the grin.  
A few rustles came to Kagome's ears, and she turned to see two children walking into the hut. One appeared to be about ten years old, while the other appeared a bit younger, maybe seven or eight. The older one had long black hair tied into a long pony-tail. Kagome noted that he had the same kind of cloth covering his right hand as Miroku had. She didn't remember anything, but something in her heart twisted and made her feel dreadfully sad. The boy had the sad eyes of Sango, and the mischievous appearance of Miroku. One would say he had a small build, possibly venture to call him scrawny. He was quite obviously the son of Miroku and Sango.  
The boy also looked over Kagome with his sad brown eyes. He didn't understand her, and he wondered why she was there. He fidgeted with the waist band of his yukata. He then turned to his mother and father.  
"I'm back from Shippou-kun's house," he stated. They smiled to him. A small feeling emerged inside me at the mention of that name. "He wondered if he could stay for a while," he stated matter-of-factly. It seemed he was not upset in the least by the prospect supported by the fact that both of his parents were, basically, wearing no garments.  
Kagome then set her eyes on the younger looking one. He was a short boy, with fiery orange hair. His ears were pointed, and he had thoughtful blue/green eyes, which made her smile. The young boy looked at her and smiled ferociously wide with excitement. He leaped onto Kagome with a grin.  
"Kagome-sama!" he exclaimed. It was about then that Kagome noticed the bushy fox tail, which made her startled. "I-I..." she said, not knowing how to tell the young child she didn't know who he was.  
Miroku and Sango looked at the young boy. "Shippou," Sango stated with a bit of a sad tone. "Kagome appears to have... forgotten us."  
Shippou looked at Kagome, eyes wide. "That's not true, is it Kagome- sama?" he said, tears forming in those vast blue/green eyes. 'You-you didn't f-forget us... d-did you...?" he asked, waiting for my answer. When Kagome could find no words to speak, he hung his head. He was obviously crying, but he didn't want his friends to know. Kagome, struck by some strange memories buried in her mind, embraced Shippou, and smiled. "Don't be silly, Shippou-chan. I haven't forgotten you," she said with a smile.  
Sango and Miroku looked at each other, wondering what was going on. Kagome's head was being ambushed by old memories of the adorable kitsune. When she drew back from Shippou, she smiled wholeheartedly, understanding his past, and his sorrows. "I'm here for you, Shippou-chan," she said with a cheery disposition.  
"Y-you..." Miroku started, and his wife finished for him. "How can you suddenly remember Shippou?"  
"I... I don't know," stated Kagome. "Something about his face. It acted as a trigger. All of these memories just flooded into my head. Hopefully the same thing will happen soon about you two."  
"So, what's your son's name?" she asked with a warm smile.  
"Sota," stated Miroku.  
"After my brother," said Kagome with a smile. 


End file.
